A clean energy future

For decades, SMUD has been a leader in clean energy, innovation, technology, renewable energy and customer programs. Today, our 2030 Zero Carbon Plan, adopted in 2021, serves as our official Integrated Resource Plan (IRP). We’ve made significant progress on our 2030 Zero Carbon Plan by committing to more than 1,400 megawatts of new clean energy resources since 2022 and advancing major solar and storage projects that move our region closer to a carbon‑free future.

A lot has changed since we adopted the Zero Carbon Plan more than 5 years ago. Rising resource costs, tariffs, supply chain challenges, loss of renewable tax credits, incentives and millions of dollars in grants are a huge challenge to the affordability of our Zero Carbon Plan. Advances in technology, particularly hydrogen and carbon capture and sequestration, have been much slower than expected. Our natural gas plants are needed to ensure we continue to provide reliable and affordable service to our customers. Our plants are some of the cleanest and most efficient in the state, which means they support regional decarbonization because they produce less emissions than other plants. Despite these headwinds, our progress is significant.

We expect to get 80% of the way to zero carbon in our power supply with all we have planned today and our commitment to decarbonization remains firm. We’re taking a balanced approach to continuous decarbonization that prioritizes affordability, reliability and sustainability. This fall, we’re launching our updated IRP process, a public, data‑driven effort to holistically reassess evolving conditions and refine our long‑term roadmap for reducing carbon emissions to reflect today’s realities. We’ll move forward with a focus on balancing affordability, reliability and sustainability for our customers.

Leading the nation

Our transition to a clean energy future is anchored on our longstanding commitment to provide safe and reliable power with rates among the lowest in California. We believe successful and continuous decarbonization requires balancing environmental goals with affordability, grid reliability and the needs of our growing region. We won’t compromise on this commitment.

As a leader in climate innovation, SMUD’s helping to position the Sacramento Region as a destination choice for forward-thinking, environmentally conscious businesses and a model for others around the nation to follow.

Through implementing our Community Impact Plan, we’re working to ensure our most under-resourced customers are part of this journey and reap the benefits of a clean energy future.

Read 2030 Zero Carbon Plan

Carbon reduction progress

We’ve made great progress since developing our 2030 Zero Carbon Plan in 2021. We’ve completed several projects in solar, battery storage and geothermal, adding about 590 megawatts of new renewable and storage capacity with 840 megawatts more signed under power purchase agreement to come online between 2026-2030 and thousands more clean energy megawatts under evaluation. That’s a total of about 1,430 megawatts, which is 130% of what we’ve added in the past 2 decades, in about half the time. 

While proven clean technologies such as wind, solar, battery storage, geothermal energy and demand response continue to advance our carbon reduction goals, some emerging technologies have not matured as quickly as anticipated. Technologies such as hydrogen and carbon capture and sequestration continue to hold long-term promise but are not yet developing at the scale, cost or pace originally expected.

As part of our IRP planning process, we're reassessing these assumptions and evaluating the most practical, cost-effective pathways to continue reducing emissions while maintaining affordability and reliability.

Partnerships and grants are also critical as we scale new and emerging technologies, while keeping our rates among the lowest in California. Through a variety of grants, SMUD and our partners have secured critical funding to help deploy advanced smart meter grid technologies and increase the number of EV chargers at multi-family complexes, among other things. However, the funding landscape continues to evolve. In some cases, federal grant opportunities that utilities and communities were counting on have been reduced, delayed or withdrawn, creating additional challenges for deploying emerging technologies and infrastructure.

Read 2024 progress report

Archived progress reports

• 2023 Zero Carbon Plan Progress Report
• 2022 Zero Carbon Plan Progress Report

Why is SMUD focused on reducing carbon emissions?

Carbon emissions contribute to global warming, which leads to extreme weather events, rising sea levels and other environmental challenges that have devastating effects on present-day communities as well as future generations

We live in one of the most polluted cities in the country. A recent report by the American Lung Association gave the Sacramento-Roseville area an F based on days of unhealthy and unsafe levels of air pollution in the ozone layer.

Reducing carbon brings benefits locally and globally. It improves our local air quality, overall health and supports economic development through creating new clean energy job opportunities.

We can’t do this without you

Our customers, community and partners are at the heart of what we do. By reducing carbon emissions, we’re helping create a cleaner and healthier region for all.

We’re all part of the solution. We offer generous rebates and incentives, programs, digital tools, education and many resources for our customers to make smart-energy choices so everyone can take action that helps move us all toward a brighter, cleaner future.